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Network: CBS
Premiere: Wednesday, September 24, 8:30pm
Cast: Jay Mohr, Paula Marshall, Jaime King, Ryan Malgarin, Kathryn Newton, Al Madrigal and Ed Begley Jr.
Premise: Gary is a newly single dad raising his two children with his ex-wife. Their relationship is solid until his ex-wife reveals she's engaged to their former marriage counselor, forcing Gary to try to find a new relationship of his own.
The phrases “family friendly” and “Jay Mohr” rarely go together, which is the primary problem of
Gary Unmarried (formerly called
Project Gary, neither of which is a good title). Mohr's particularly crude brand of comedy was best suited to his short-lived FOX comedy Action, a daring, innovative series that sadly came before FX existed. Therefore, it's a tad disappointing to see Mohr take the role of the single dad in a generic sitcom formula.
One would hope that Mohr's style of comedy might slip through the cracks onto the screen, and occasionally there are glimpses of it, as when his 15-year-old son discusses his desire to “tap that” when his female study partner shows up. The fact that the kid doesn't even know what “that” is gives some hope to the show, but that could be the only truly funny joke in the pilot.
To fully understand CBS' plans for this project, you only need to look at the schedule. CBS has two new comedies this season. One was placed after
Two and a Half Men, the highest-rated comedy on TV. The other was thrown on Wednesdays, a new night for CBS to try out sitcoms. Given that piece of information, it's safe to assume even the network had more confidence in
Worst Week than
Gary Unmarried, which is a bit like coming in second place at the spelling bee to Paris Hilton.
Will you watch Gary Unmarried?
-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image courtesy of CBS)